Summer Exchange 2020 Internship Projects

Summer Exchange 2020 Internship Information

MDSGC’s 2020 Summer Exchange program invites qualified students to apply for hands-on summer internships at any of the participating universities other than their home institution. The program will exchange successful applicants among participating universities for a 10-week paid engineering internship experience. Interested students should contact the faculty coordinator (see below) at their home institution for more information.

The link to the application is at the bottom of this page. Please read this page carefully before applying!

The application deadline was March 21, 2020. Offers are in process. Project “status” below indicates which positions are yet to be filled.

Eligibility

Applicants must be:

  • U.S. citizens.
  • Rising sophomore, junior, or seniors majoring in engineering, computer science, or another STEM area relevant to the project topics. Note: some projects have prerequisites that may require particular experience.
  • Currently enrolled at one of the following institutions: Capitol Technology University (CTU), Morgan State University (MSU), University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC), University of Maryland College Park (UMCP), or University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES).
  • Interested in working at one of the participating universities other than their home institution. Example: CTU students should not apply for an internship offered at CTU through this program.
  • Available to commit for at least 10 weeks during the summer of 2020.

Projects

On the application, students will be asked to rank their top three project choices, specified by “Project ID”, listed in the table below.

Project IDTitle, Mentor, and Project Description
CTU-1Title: Machine Learning-based Prediction of Wait Time in Mobility-on-demand Systems

Location: Capitol Technology University (CTU)

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Robert Steele

Project Description: The intern would work with Dr. Steele to extend his existing research in this area. The work has applications to prediction and optimization in complex systems involving multiple autonomous vehicles (terrestrial or airborne), interacting with their broader environment, which includes human and other non-deterministic elements, for which full state information is not available. Applications can include to course determination in autonomous drone swarms amongst others. The intern would develop their applied data mining and machine learning skills and develop the ability to carry out data mining research publishable in peer-reviewed forums.

Required student skills:
General familiarity with data mining and machine learning concepts.
Major preferably Computer Science or related.
Desirable: experience with Python or R-based machine learning libraries.
Optional: knowledge of or experience with deep learning.

This project aims to recruit one intern.
CTU-2Title: The Development of Novel Machine Learning-based Techniques for Predicting Hospital In-patient Outcomes

Status: Position filled

Location: Capitol Technology University (CTU)

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Robert Steele

Project Description: Machine learning methods are used in a variety of fields, and the skills in one field translate well to others. Being able to predict as early as possible during a hospital admission, such patient outcomes as length-of-stay, in-hospital mortality or otherwise disposition at discharge, has important benefits for the quality of healthcare and patient health and the potential to save many lives. However, current approaches face a range of significant limitations including applicability to only specific healthcare settings or health conditions, the use of scoring systems that only incorporate a small number of factors, limited generalizability or the ability to only be applied later in the course of a hospital admission. In this project the intern will work with Dr. Robert Steele on a project that will be part of his existing health
data science research to develop new machine learning-based approaches and techniques to predict patient outcomes specific to the Maryland health system, using HCUP datasets, that can overcome the identified limitations of current approaches and hence provide important benefits for patients and healthcare in the state and save lives.

Required student skills:
General familiarity with data mining and machine learning concepts.
Desirable: experience with Python or R-based machine learning libraries.
Optional: knowledge of or experience with deep learning.

This project aims to recruit one intern.
MSU-1Title: Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) Simulation & Analysis of the Liquid-Fuel Rocket Engine System

Status: Position filled

Location: Morgan State University (MSU)

Faculty Mentors: Dr. Seong W. Lee & Dr. Xuejun Qian

Project Description: According to the prediction that the space industry will be worth $1.1-2.7 trillion by the 2040’s, there is rapidly growing space industry demand for experience in design and simulation techniques for the development of more efficient liquid rocket engines. In this project, the student will learn how to design, model, and evaluate the performance (e.g., thrust, velocity, pressure, and temperature) of the rocket engine components (i.e., combustion chamber with nozzle) using appropriate software packages (e.g., ANSYS Fluent, CEA). Fluid dynamics, thermodynamics, rocket propulsion and physics principles will be reviewed and applied during the modeling and calculation process. The student may also participate to manufacture and assemble the prototype. In addition, students may also have opportunities to be involved in ongoing energy related research projects (e.g., cooling system, heat exchanger) which may extend their research interests and skills.

This project aims to recruit one intern.
MSU-2Title: Aluminum Airframe Design and Fabrication Analysis for a Liquid-Fuel Rocket

Status: Position filled

Location: Morgan State University (MSU)

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Guangming Chen

Project Description: Liquid-propellant rockets are being studied and developed at Morgan State University under a grant from BASE 11. The first rocket will be a single-stage rocket to be launched to an altitude of 13,000 feet, near the end of 2020. This summer will be a critical phase in designing and fabricating the rocket. Aluminum has been selected as the airframe material. The aluminum airframe will house the rocket engine, liquid-fuel tank and oxygen tank as well as other subsystems. Under the guidance of the mentor, the student will work with a MSU graduate student in developing the engineering drawings of the rocket airframe by CAD software and in analysis of fabrication approach. The student may also have an opportunity to participate in assembling the rocket or testing the engine in late summer.

This project aims to recruit one intern.
MSU-3Title: Industrial Robotics and Automated Manufacturing (IRAM) Lab

Status: Position filled

Location: Morgan State University (MSU)

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Richard A. Pitts, Jr.

Project Description: For this project, the prospective summer intern will work on mobile robotics applications in the Industrial Robotics and Automated Manufacturing (IRAM) lab at Morgan State University. The applications may help to foster the development of prototypes in future NASA space missions. IRAM lab is the combination of the two technologies of robotics and automation which allows for an efficient, automatically operated system of programmable/reprogrammable robotic and automated machines that can perform an infinite number of tasks and operations (e.g., the manufacture and assembly of parts or products, the excavation of material from a planetary body, etc.). It is a flexible manufacturing environment utilized for performing research and training with industrial robots, mobile robots and drones.

This project aims to recruit one intern.
UMBC-1Title: Instrument Development and Construction for Magnetized Plasma and Dusty Plasma Experimentation

Status: Position filled

Location: University of Maryland Baltimore County

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Carlos Romero-Talamás

Project Description: Summer interns will participate in projects related to magnetized dusty plasmas and high-temperature plasmas, including work on a powerful electromagnet and its subsystems currently under construction at UMBC. Most of the components are being built at UMBC, including water-jet and laser cutting of metal and insulating parts, as well as 3D printing of smaller components. Knowledge of basic machining equipment, as well as SolidWorks, Matlab, and ANSYS finite-element software, among others, is preferred but not required. Students will be required to keep laboratory notes throughout their internship, and produce a final report that will become part of the technical library of the Dusty Plasma Laboratory before the end of their internship.

This project aims to recruit one or two interns.
UMBC-2Title: Fundamental Mechanisms in Aero-hydro Energy Harvesting

Status: Position filled

Location: University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC)

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Meilin Yu

Project Description: This program will involve students into cutting-edge wind and tidal energy research at the Department of Mechanical Engineering of UMBC. Design, additive manufacturing, fluid-structure interaction experiments and high-performance computing (HPC) will be integrated into the research projects to broaden students’ view on renewable energy research. The projects to be involved include 1) design and manufacture a novel vertical-axis wind turbine, or a novel tidal energy harvesting device; 2) carry out high-fidelity numerical simulation with HPC facilities at UMBC; and 3) carry out a fluid-structure interaction experiment of the turbine. The tools that summer interns will be using include SolidWorks, ANSYS Fluent (with the HPC module), MATLAB, LabVIEW and an in-house fan wall among others. All the practices will be hosted at the Computational Mechanics Lab at UMBC. A final report and presentation will be required from each intern towards the end of the internship period.

This project aims to recruit two interns.
UMCP-1Title: Space Systems Lab

Status: Position filled

Location: University of Maryland College Park (UMCP)

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Dave Akin

Project Description: Commercial on-orbit satellite servicing would be more economically feasible if it could be done with smaller spacecraft. In this project, interns will investigate the use of robotics on small satellites (small-sats) for on-orbit satellite assembly, repair, and maintenance, as well as the use of robotics for exploration objectives on the Moon and Mars.

This project aims to recruit one or two interns.
UMCP-2Title: Micro-bot Swarm

Status: Position filled

Location: University of Maryland College Park (UMCP)

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Michael Otte

Project Description: The intern will work with a kilobot swarm of micro-robots that can be programmed in simple ways, and will gain experience with coding in C and most likely a bit of soldering as well. The goal will be to formulate a research project and implement it using the swarm of micro-bots.

This project aims to recruit one intern.
UMES-1Title: Robotic Applications for Teaching, Research, and Outreach

Status: Position filled

Location: University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES)

Faculty Mentors: Dr. M. Mitra, Dr. A. Nagchaudhuri, I. Mamoun (lab manager)

Project Description: The intern will become familiar with the use and application of robotic devices recently acquired and/or installed in the new Robotics and Manufacturing Laboratory at UMES. The laboratory is equipped with state of the art industrial SCARA and six degree of freedom articulated robotic arm as well as other educational platforms such as Microbot-Teachmover, IRobot Create2, Go Pi Go , and Phantomx Pincher robot. The intern will get an opportunity to work with the laboratory manager and UMES faculty to demonstrate advanced manufacturing applications using the state of the art SCARA and six degree of freedom industrial robot. Intern will develop CAD drawings and 3D print parts for robot grippers and fixtures for manufacturing cells. The intern will also work with the other educational robotic devices and if logistics permit can be engaged with some of the instructional and demonstration efforts in the robotics lab for a summer outreach effort.

UMES faculty will engage the intern in oral and written communication skill development and facilitate the poster and/or powerpoint presentation development that will be presented at the symposium towards the end of the 10-week internship.

This project aims to recruit one intern.
UMES-2Title: Smart Agriculture - Integrating Advanced Technologies with Food, Energy, Water, and Sustainability Considerations

Location: University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES)

Faculty Mentors: Dr. M. Mitra, Dr. A. Nagchaudhuri, J. Pandya and T. Ford (graduate students)

Project Description: The intern will support graduate student efforts and help with the documentation, operational logistics, and monitoring of the subsurface drip irrigation, "fertigation" and wireless soil moisture sensor network installation for the 15 acre Bozman field at UMES, devoted to demonstration and research in smart farming. The intern will also work towards refining the design and installation of rain water harvesting and solar and wind energy set up for the 3-axis FarmBot (3 axis Cartesian Robot) that autonomously seeds, weeds, irrigates, and monitors (time lapse photography) a 10ft by 20ft raised bed for growing vegetables and/or flowers, as well as support preliminary trials and installation of a smaller FarmBot that will be equipped with grow light in an assigned room in the Food Science and Technology building at UMES.

If time permits the intern will also be exposed to ongoing design, development, and application of small unmanned systems on the ground (UGV- Unmanned Ground Vehicle), in the water (Robotic Boat), and in the air (Drones). UMES faculty will engage the intern in oral and written communication skill development and facilitate the poster and/or powerpoint presentation development that will be presented at the symposium towards the end of the 10-week internship.

This project aims to recruit one intern.
UMES-3Title: Bio-mimicry - Harvesting water from thin air

Status: Position filled

Location: University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES)

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Kausiksankar Das

Description: Here, we propose a disruptive bio-inspired technology for water storage in farms for agricultural purposes that can be expanded even to residential units. This structure is inspired by Namib Desert Beetles and radiative cooling of the deep sky. To harvest water from fog in arid dry conditions, these beetles tilt their back towards the fog-laden wind so that the airborne droplets attach to the hydrophilic bumps on the elytra, coalesce to large water drops until they are detached by gravity, and roll to the beetle’s mouth directed by the hydrophobic valleys. Due to the challenge of combining hydrophobic species with hydrophilic ones, innovative ideas for designing these surfaces are needed. Furthermore, the condensation efficiency depends on the surface temperature. Using the deep sky as a cold reservoir (via mid-infrared transmission windows), functionalized surfaces can have lower temperature than ambient temperature through radiative cooling. The proposed surface structure herein possesses inner surfaces that would be physically and chemically functionalized to mimic Namib Beetles and demonstrate the radiative cooling effect. The proposed micro/nanostructured surfaces would harvest humidity from air and condense it in the form of drops. The formed drops would be collected at the bottom of the structure for further use for agricultural purposes.

This project aims to recruit one intern.
USNA-1Title: Cyber "Space" STEM Internship

Status: Positions filled

Location: United States Naval Academy (USNA)

Faculty Mentors: Christine Maceo and Dr. Angela Leimkuhler-Moran

Description: The USNA STEM Center proposes to recruit two undergraduate interns in collaboration with MDSGC. The ideal candidate will be a rising sophomore or junior majoring in a STEM discipline. The interns will work together to produce a number of STEM-related activities focusing on emerging topics related to cyber science in space, including (but not limited to) machine learning, artificial intelligence, digital forensics and physical/virtual cyber-warfare against space-based equipment pre-launch, life-cycle, end-of-life, and post-retirement. In addition to scalable activities for a comprehensive hands-on module, the undergraduate interns will develop short-duration K-16 activities related to cybersecurity in space for less-structured events such as Space Fairs and festivals. The STEM Center will utilize these activities in upcoming workshops and events.

To develop an in-depth understanding of forensic science in the digital world and physical/virtual cyberwarfare against critical civilian and military space technology, the interns will conduct their own research and explore related activities previously developed at the STEM Center, including Data Science and Machine Learning, Space Technology, Cryptography, Steganography, Password Hacking, and Hashtag Tracking. In addition, the interns will be provided with opportunities to work with civilian and military faculty and staff at the US Naval Academy. These field experts are available to help with content clarification and activity development as the modules are researched, planned and documented. A faculty member for the USNA STEM Center will mentor the interns and provide them with the necessary research and
personnel resources.

This project aims to recruit two interns.

How to Apply

The deadline for online submission of applications was March 21, 2020.

(I) Interested students must obtain the endorsement of the faculty coordinator at their home institution or one of the internship mentors. Coordinators will help guide students toward appropriate projects and will provide the password needed to submit an application via the link below.  Contact your home institution’s coordinator to request their endorsement (and application password) and get their advice:

Capitol Technology University — Prof. Sandy Antunes

Morgan State University — Prof. Guangming Chen

University of Maryland, Baltimore County — Prof. Carlos Romero-Talamás

University of Maryland, College Park — Prof. Mary Bowden

University of Maryland, Eastern Shore — Prof. Abhijit Nagchaudhuri

(II) Completing the application requires (1) current student information including contact information and GPA; (2) a PDF resume or CV; (3) a PDF “statement of interest” (one page or less) that should explain your goals for the internship and your overall career; (4) contact information for one person who can provide a letter of recommendation; (5) your top three choices among the projects listed on this page.

(III) Here is the link to the password-protected application page. Contact your home institution’s coordinator to request their endorsement and the password.

Stipend and Housing

MDSGC will provide a 10-week stipend of $7300 and will assist interns in arranging housing if needed. Interns will be responsible for paying housing and transportation costs out of their stipend.

For general questions, please contact MDSGC.